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2026 Festival Volunteer Opportunities
Master Class: Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes
Volunteer Needs:
2 Usher/Greeters
1 Hospitality
TBD Transportation
Description:
Festival artists share their talents and wisdom with Festival Fellows, who perform and learn from their teachers at Gilmore Festival master classes. Witness the creative process in action and gain insight into the dedication required to become an exceptional pianist. All master classes are free and open to the public.
Kirill Gerstein & Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
Volunteer Needs:
20 Usher/Greeter/Scanners
6 Reception
2 Information Station
TBD Transportation
Description:
Already beloved for his solo piano interpretations, 2010 Gilmore Artist Kirill Gerstein unveils another facet of his musical life for Festival audiences: his role as conductor. In one evening with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Gerstein both plays and conducts not one, not two, but three of Beethoven’s beloved Piano Concertos, a mind-boggling feat that must be seen to be believed. Beethoven himself frequently performed his own concertos while conducting from the keyboard, so Gilmore audiences will experience these masterworks in much the same way that audiences would have in Beethoven’s day.
Pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm with Dr. Zaide Pixley in Room 130
Nicole Zuraitis CIVIC
Volunteer Needs:
10 Usher/Greeter/Scanners
2 Information Station
TBD Transportation
Description:
A vocalist, pianist, songwriter, and arranger who originally trained in classical voice and opera, Nicole Zuraitis offers powerful interpretations of jazz, pop, and anything else she sets her mind to. How Love Begins, her album co-produced with Christian McBride, won Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 2024 GRAMMY Awards, making her the first artist to win this award for an album entirely made up of original compositions and arrangements. Zuraitis leads a band of powerhouse artists, using her arrangements to showcase their considerable talents in the best possible light.
Chopin and Viardot: A Dialogue
Volunteer Needs:
6 Usher/Greeter/Scanners
3 Reception
1 Information Station
TBD Transportation
Description:
Pauline Viardot was an accomplished pianist, a world-renowned mezzo-soprano, and a talented composer who studied with Franz Liszt, yet Viardot’s name is largely unknown today. In their dual recital, pianist Charlotte Hu and soprano Raquel González re-introduce Viardot to her rightful place alongside the greatest of Romantic composers, notably her friend and colleague Frédéric Chopin. Their program spans solo piano works by both Chopin and Viardot, Viardot’s piano-and-voice arrangements of Chopin’s mazurkas — which Chopin himself advised on and was pleased with — and some of Viardot’s own original songs for soprano and piano.
Pre-concert talk at 1 pm with Dr. Zaide Pixley in the Lecture Hall at Dalton Center
Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes (5pm)
Volunteer Needs:
10 Usher/Greeter/Scanners
2 Information Station
TBD Transportation
Description:
Two of today’s preeminent jazz pianists, Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes have played together in a two-piano setting since the release of their 2010 Blue Note album Double Portrait, a set of duets that traverse their shared musical touchstones. Downbeat declared that “the counterpoint and compatibility are so perfectly balanced, the selections and arrangements so handsome, that Double Portrait is a prize.” On stage, the husband-and-wife duo share their interpretations of jazz standards, Great American Songbook and Broadway tunes, and their own original compositions, inspired by their work together.
Yes! Trio featuring Ali Jackson, Aaron Goldberg & Omer Avital Battle Creek
Volunteer Needs:
2 Usher/Greeter/Scanners
TBD Transportation
Description:
United by three decades of friendship and a reverence for straight-ahead jazz and swing, the members of Yes! Trio are all superstar musicians in their own right. Ali Jackson has played with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2005. Omer Avital synthesizes American jazz, Israeli, and other Arab styles into something new and vital. And Aaron Goldberg leads his own trio and tours with the Joshua Redman Quartet. Says Yes! Trio, “We want to connect the sound of the roots of jazz with the present, because this is what the future of jazz is made of!”
Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes (8pm)
Volunteer Needs:
10 Usher/Greeter/Scanners
2 Information Station
TBD Transportation
Description:
Two of today’s preeminent jazz pianists, Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes have played together in a two-piano setting since the release of their 2010 Blue Note album Double Portrait, a set of duets that traverse their shared musical touchstones. Downbeat declared that “the counterpoint and compatibility are so perfectly balanced, the selections and arrangements so handsome, that Double Portrait is a prize.” On stage, the husband-and-wife duo share their interpretations of jazz standards, Great American Songbook and Broadway tunes, and their own original compositions, inspired by their work together.
Master Class: Sara Davis Buechner
Volunteer Needs:
2 Usher/Greeters
1 Hospitality
TBD Transportation
Description:
Festival artists share their talents and wisdom with Festival Fellows, who perform and learn from their teachers at Gilmore Festival master classes. Witness the creative process in action and gain insight into the dedication required to become an exceptional pianist. All master classes are free and open to the public.